Before the next instalment of our SPOTLIGHT Midlands: Supplier Engagement in the Region event, Quadrant Transport sat down with Vicky Evans, joint director of Twinfix, to learn more about the company and the success it has had over the past 30 years.
Twinfix is a high quality, safety-focused manufacturer and installer of roof glazing and canopies. The company, which was established in the late 1980s, were the first company in Europe to develop a range of glazing bars and fixing accessories designed for installing polycarbonate.
Joining us on our SPOTLIGHT Midlands event, Supplier Engagement in the Region, is their director, Vicky Evans. Prior to the event, Quadrant Transport spoke with Vicky to discuss the success of the company and its growth in the past 30 years.
Lending its success to the company’s culture, Vicky explained: “We have a really good team ethos at Twinfix, everyone really does care for what they do.”
“We value our team,” and throughout the years the company has not stopped innovating to produce “cost-effective, quality, safe products”, Vicky continued.
We have a really good team ethos at Twinfix, everyone really does care for what they do
Priding themselves on their in-house manufacturing, Twinfix can control the quality of their product from its initial design to the final product. Vicky told Quadrant Transport they “go above and beyond to make sure the product is perfect.”
Having “designed new products to meet the needs [of the rail industry] over the years,” Twinfix are constantly innovating their products, said Vicky. The company “enjoy the challenge it brings.”
Their Georgian Wired Polycarbonate is one shining example of innovation in the business. This polycarbonate, which is “unique” to Twinfix, looks like glass, has been tested against all the safety features and is the main one on the market. Their pioneering polycarbonate, which was a result of their work with Network Rail, is something they “are really proud of.”
Hard work and success
As a result of their rigorous quality checks and innovative thinking Twinfix have developed a “high end” product, Vicky told Quadrant Transport.
Twinfix is a family run business, with joint directors, Vicky and her sister, Sarah Kench, building on the hard work their father put in when the company was launched.
Vicky explained how becoming joint MD, along with Sarah, was like “a baptism of fire.” Despite the initial challenges, the sisters, alongside long-standing directors Dan Smith and Paul Greenfield, have done some “really amazing things” with the company.
This close-knit team of directors have boosted sales and have a company which is now a lot “busier” and “slicker.” Their success is due to the hard work the company has put in to get the “safety qualifications” they need, said Vicky.
Now part of the Manufacturers Alliance, Twinfix are going from strength to strength.
The Manufacturers Alliance allows companies to share best practice about common themes across manufacturing and leadership. It is a “forum of trust where you can bounce ideas around, learn what other people are doing,” Vicky explained.
With their new affiliation with the Manufacturers Alliance, Vicky said the company are using this influx of knowledge to support their transition towards digitalisation and the adoption of “lean technologies.”
This transition about how the company will continue to “move with the times” but “without losing [their] inherent skills,” Vicky added.
“You can always learn something from somebody else,” and the Manufacturers Alliances allows Twinfix to do this along with other professionals, Vicky told Quadrant Transport.
You can always learn something from somebody else
Acknowledging and highlighting the hard work the company has put in over the past 30 years, Twinfix were awarded ‘Best Canopy & Roof-Glazing Company’ at the 2020 Build Architecture Awards.
Keen to maintain and build on the hard work they have put in over the years, Vicky wants the company to “keep on innovating to match the needs rail want and ask for.”
Vicky rounded up saying Twinfix are determined to “keep that cycle of knowledge going so we can keep our product out there certainly for generations to come.”